The present invention relates to apparatus for identifying and recording bottles and/or bottle hampers.
The apparatus of the invention comprises a light source for illuminating a target to be examined, such as, for example, a bottle hamper and the bottles therein. A camera examines the target momentarily and a conveyor transports the target past the camera and the light source. The image produced by the camera is transmitted to a computer or data processing unit, after being transformed into digital form, for identifying the target, and a recorder records the target.
A bottle hamper identifying device known in the prior art utilizes ultrasonic technology. However, such device is inaccurate, because only either empty or full hampers can be identified therewith. The identifying capacity of the known device is therefore rather limited. Furthermore, any device based on ultrasonic technology is sensitive to interference from noise or air currents. This type of device is also relatively slow, because the velocity of the transport means, and, consequently, also that of the bottle hamper, is limited to about 28 mm/s. In addition, apparatus based on ultrasonic technology is very expensive.
Also known in the prior art is a device utilizing a line camera for identifying individual bottles. The basis for this type of device is the momentary examination of the received bottle over a lineal target area as the bottle is moving along a conveyor and passing in front of a detector. As the bottle moves, the lineal area of examination shifts across the entire bottle, and a line image of the bottle is obtained over the whole bottle. The line image, such as, for example, a string of signals formed by electric pulses produced by the line camera, is excellent for processing the image and shape of the bottle with a view to identifying bottle shapes which are acceptable and for recording such bottles as have been accepted. However, this type of device is only suitable for examining single bottles, and cannot be utilized to identify bottle hampers, particularly how many bottles each bottle hamper contains.